WUNRN
SOMALIA-KENYA - FAMINE BUT DIGNITY
AMIDST DESTITUTION - WOMEN
In
the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, images of dignity and resilience exist
alongside those of desperation and destitution.
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Touted
as the harshest drought in six decades, more than 12 million people are said to
be vulnerable to starvation in the Horn of Africa.
Somalia, without a central government for the past two decades, has been the worst hit, with around 3.2 million of its citizens facing intermittent starvation. Every day thousands flee to Kenya, Ethiopia and Yemen.
In the Dadaab refugee complex in north eastern Kenya, which is home to an estimated 440,000, mostly Somali, refugees, the UNHCR says that the plight of new arrivals reflects deteriorating conditions inside Somalia.
Dadaab may be bursting at the seams - a stark example of natural disaster and human failure - but it is also the site of innovation, agency and entrepreneurialism. The resilience and dignity of those in the most precarious of positions - victims of drought, civil war and poor governance - offer an alternative to the often simplified images of desperation that flash across our television screens and further compound the international weariness over the crisis.